Arthurian and Grail Plays

Merlin (invisible).
Pendragon passes; now Pendragon's seed
Shall reign, Pendragon, on Pendragon's throne.A kingdom passes; now a kingdom's kingShall raise a kingdom for the King of kings.

(Merlin's figure becomes faintly visible, poised in mid-air.)

Morgan le Fay, rise from the riven rock,Rise through the waters of the Magic Mere,Merlin, thy master, calls.The night is done.I hear the trumpets of the trampling day,I see the glimmer of the torch of dawnDance like the northern fires along the sky.The curse is lifted, England wakes again.

Angelic Voices (above).Night passes,the darkness breaks:see how the curseis wafted away!Down from Heaven,a beam of light,Sinks the smile of the Lord.England, awake!Rouse to the cry!Day is at dawn for the landfor God is aweary of wrath.

Morgan le Fay (below, invisible).Pendragon passes, but the darkness holds,And England sleeps: her dawn shall never comeThe while I rule the Magic Mere. The dayIs not for her until I loose my hand;Until the sunken sea and all the godsThat dwell therein, shall fail and fall away,Dissolving as the mist that meets the sun.

Merlin.The sun, the sun! Look where the flaunting hostOf blazing minions mounts the steep of Heaven.Morgan, thy reign is ended!

Morgan.At whose word?

Merlin.The word of God, and here I give it thee.What time King Uther lived, His hand was stayed,While England paid the grievous penaltyOf evil done, and thou wast given leaveTo scourge us with the curse of paynim gods.Pendragon passes and the ban is raised;Pendragon's seed is lord.

Morgan.Is lord not yet!Deep in the Magic Mere I hold the Sword:Take it, magician, if ye have the hand,Pendragon wins no worship if ye fail.

Merlin.While Uther lived, the Sword was in thy hold;Pendragon passes, and the Sword is won.

Morgan.Thou
liest, Merlin, for the Sword is lost!

Merlin.Thou liest, Morgan, for within my handI hold the proof.

Morgan.The proof?

Merlin.Excalibur!

(Merlin is illuminated with a dazzling radiance. Four shafts of light shoot upward, downward, and to either hand, as he draws Excalibur, brandishing it aloft in the light.)Morgan.Here to me, all ye dwellers in the mere!Excalibur is won! Cry treason, cryUnto the uttermost and deepest depth,Unto the farthest bounds of all the world,"Excalibur is won!" Black treason stalksStark in the sunken sea: your bootless bladesRust in their scabbards, hingeless hang the doorsThat closed my Castle
Terrabil, the wallsI reared to ward Excalibur are cleftIn sunder hopelessly. The Sword returns!

Voices.Excalibur is lost;Woe to the people of the Magic Mere!Woe to thee, Morgan, crownless queen,Woe!Woe!

(The spirits vanish downward. Morgan's voice is heard afar off.)

Morgan.Hold the Sword, Merlin, guard it with thy craft:The day is breaking, but the day will die:Night follows close. The rune is written. Hear!"Pendragon passes. Now Pendragon's seedShall slay Pendragon for Pendragon's lust.A kingdom passes, now a kingdom's kingShall lose a kingdom to the lord of hell."

Merlin.So runs the rune, but God shall gain the day!Excalibur is won, and England's dawnIs breaking: cry adown the winds, "All hail,Arthur
Pendragon, King of England, hail!"Build thou God's city in the wilderness,Trample the paynim underneath thy feetAnd raise the Cross above a thirsty land.All hail,
Pendragon, servant of the Lord!

Angelic Voices (above.)Hail,
Pendragon,Lord of the Sword!Crowned of Englandsaviour and king.Come forth, thou servant of God,for the dawn is white on the world,and Christ shall arm thee to-dayThe Sword is won,hell is confounded,back from Englandcowers the curse.The Sword Excalibur comes;follows fast the Kingdom of God!Merlin.So answers Heaven and hell is dumb. The bellSounds for the day; go then, Excalibur,Hold in the heavy rock until the king,Great England's king, shall gain thee for his own.So do I send thee, Sword of Avalon,Down to the waiting world. Pendragon comes!